New Living Translation
Ezekiel 18:25
25“Yet you say, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one not doing what’s right, or is it you?
Ezekiel 18:25 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
- New International Version (NIV)“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?
Context of Ezekiel 18:25
23“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. 24However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. “Yet you say, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one not doing what’s right, or is it you? 26When righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things, they will die for it. Yes, they will die because of their sinful deeds. 27And if wicked people turn from their wickedness, obey the law, and do what is just and right, they will save their lives.
Read all of Ezekiel 18Ezekiel 18:25 word by word
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕ם לֹ֥א יִתָּכֵ֖ן דֶּ֣רֶךְ אֲדֹנָ֑י שִׁמְעוּ־נָא֙ בֵּ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הֲדַרְכִּי֙ לֹ֣א יִתָּכֵ֔ן הֲלֹ֥א דַרְכֵיכֶ֖ם לֹ֥א יִתָּכֵֽנוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ezekiel 18:25
- Ezekiel 18:29And yet the people of Israel keep saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ O people of Israel, it is you who are not doing what’s right, not I.
- Ezekiel 33:17“Your people are saying, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right,’ but it is they who are not doing what’s right.
- Job 32:2Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the clan of Ram, became angry. He was angry because Job refused to admit that he had sinned and that God was right in punishing him.
- Job 34:5For Job also said, ‘I am innocent, but God has taken away my rights.
- Job 35:2“Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I am righteous before God’?
- Job 40:8“Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?
- Job 42:4You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’
- Malachi 2:17You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
- Malachi 3:13“You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’
- Matthew 20:11When they received their pay, they protested to the owner,
- Romans 3:5“But,” some might say, “our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?” (This is merely a human point of view.)
- Romans 9:20No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”
- Romans 10:3For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.
- Genesis 18:25Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
- Deuteronomy 32:4He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!
- Psalms 50:6Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God himself will be the judge. Interlude
Commentaries on Ezekiel 18:25
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 25Equal - literally, “weighed out, balanced.” Man‘s ways are arbitrary, God‘s ways are governed by a self-imposed law, which makes all consistent and harmonious.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-29Verses 21-29 The wicked man would be saved, if he turned from his evil ways. The true penitent is a true believer. None of his former transgressions shall be mentioned unto him, but in the righteousness which he has done, as the fruit of faith and the effect of conversion, he shall surely live. The question is not whether the truly righteous ever become apostates. It is certain that many who for a time were thought to be righteous, do so, while Ezek…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 25-29Israel's issue was not that the Lord was unjust, but that they kept doing wrong. They fully deserved God's judgment.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2525. Their plea for saying, "The way of the Lord is not equal," was that God treated different classes in a different way. But it was really their way that was unequal, since living in sin they expected to be dealt with as if they were righteous. God's way was invariably to deal with different men according to their deserts.Read the comment
Topics related to Ezekiel 18:25
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ezekiel 18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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